Chapter 4
Encounter with Cannibals As they head north and east, Xar reports a group of twelve moving slowly north and west. Phineas chooses to go see who they are and if they pose a threat. What the boy sees is more than he bargains for. The group is men who physically alter themselves by grafting bone or metal onto their bodies. All of the men are otherwise incredibly healthy and very strong looking, but barbaric in their manner and dress. Worst of all, it appears as if there is a human woman in the cooking pot. Phineas watches as one of the warriors takes a bite out of the woman from the pot while she weakly attempts to scream. It is too much for Phineas and it changes him, ages him beyond his twelve years, and permanently dampens his desire for any kind of meat. The group decides to avoid the cannibals altogether and continue on. Caldera There is a semi-permanent shanty town that has grown up around a crater. It is guarded by more of the same men encountered on the road. The group enters the encampment without subtlety. There they find themselves accosted by people wasting away from disease and hunger. The things they say are not coherent, though some are definitely cannibalistic in nature. There is something about a blood pool in the middle of the crater. They also make reference to the 'life stew' and someone taking 'her' away from them. When the responses show that the group doesn't immediately have the answers they want, rather than engaging, the pitiful petitioner moves off again. None of them respond with answers to questions directed at them. They are single-minded in the quest for their own answers. The group heads down to the caldera and find out some of the awful truth. It turns out that the lake is where one of the stars hit that fell. It has since filled with water, though the heat from the impact and the magic of the star remain. There are dead, boiled bodies of swimmers floating in the water as well as live people attempting to find healing in the water. There is a slight red tinge to the water as if blood has diluted throughout it enough to permanently change the color. Samples are taken, but no one drinks the water. Ano in particular feels a connection to the wrongness of the place and is able to describe what is happening. * Ano rests for a few moments thinking over the things that hey had seen before speaking up. He had far less answers then he would have liked to have at this point but they would have to make do. "There was something deeply wrong with that place, it was just as you said Toben. Those people where not of their own minds, it was like they had an unnatural lust for whatever that 'life stew' in the center of the crater. They seek healing but seem to get sicker the more they partake." He takes a deep breath and pulls a small metal vial from his pocket and passes it to Toben. His fingers of his right hand seem red and raw as he passes it over. "This is a sample from the pool back there. The water in the crater was extremely hot, and yet some how those people drank and bathed in it without effect. I would assume this sample will retain the same heat, so I would be cautious. Perhaps it contains the same kind of corruption we saw in the stone that held Kornari." "The most troubling thing of all, was that all those people there are slowly being drained on a spiritual level. It was happening to us as well, but on a much smaller level, that is why I pushed us to leave quickly." Ano turns to look out to the west "I think our next step should should be to continue west for a while, that is where all of that spiritual energy was being drawn to." They realize then that the group they passed had more information and were the leaders of the cannibals. The group heads back west to find the group. Nestael When they catch up, the cannibals have stopped and are preparing for a meeting with another group led by their old enemy, Pauric. With a bit of subterfuge, divide and conquer tactics, and the help of a dragon whelp, the meeting is disrupted and the cannibals are confronted and defeated. Saris collapses during the battle and does not move again until the warriors are defeated. The leader of the cannibals, Faelorn, is from a town near the caldera called Dunston. A man named Ourn Garamune has been tracking him for abusing and raping his wife, Hattie, and leaving her comatose and pregnant. They face off against Faelorn and four others. The group finds the woman in the pot and removes her, realizing that she is the Song of Body, Nestael. Saris comes into contact with her allowing her spirit to transfer temporarily into Saris' body. Nestael's body withers away and dies and she is finally free of the months of pain she has endured. The transfer of the spirit disrupts the connection the cannibals have to their enhanced abilities. It is the only thing that saves those who had drawn them off from the camp. Klale is maimed and nearly killed. Ourn arrives then and stops Faelorn from delivering the killing blow. With Nestael's power gone, Faelorn returns to normal and is defeated. Toben nearly kills him anyway out of anger, but Saris-Nestael is awake and stops him. She heals Faelorn using magic so that he may stand trial. Klale, near death, is also healed completely, his hand restored. Saris-Nestael gives the group a choice: go after Pauric and take him out once and for all, or go back to Dunston and the caldera with her to restore the townsfolk. The heroes choose to help the town of Dunston. Continue to Chapter 5: Rebirth of a Star. Story Chapters Prologue: The Legacy of Men Chapter 1: Song of the Earth Chapter 2: Digging up the Dwarves Chapter 3: Dark Hearts * Chapter 3.1: Ourn's Story Chapter 4: Dying Forever Chapter 5: Rebirth of a Star Chapter 6: Return to the Duchies * Chapter 6.4: A Bard's Tale (Ryland's Story) Chapter 7: Tempest of Fire * Chapter 7.1: Rise of a Paladin (Galad's Story)